82 year old north shore swimmer Tony Goodwin picks up six gold medals

82-year-old swimmer Tony Goodwin has won a swag of gold at the FINA World Championships in South Korea and now has his sights on set on the next championships in 2021

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He has multiple national records to his name and has just picked up another handful of world championship medals.

But this 82-year-old north shore swimmer has no plans to hang up his goggles just yet.

North Turramurra resident Tony Goodwin has returned from the FINA World Masters Swimming Championships in South Korea having claimed four gold medals in the 80-84 year old age group.

Tom Goodwin trains six days per week.

Goodwin, who trains at the Ku-ring-gai Aquatic Centre six days per week, received the trophy haul in the 50m 100m and 200m breaststroke and 50m butterfly events.

In what turned out to be a very successful trip, he also picked up another two gold medals in relay teams and a silver in the 100m swim.

No stranger to dominating at a masters level, Goodwin credited his success at the event to a combination of training, a healthy diet and a passion for keeping active.

“It’s important to keep active and these days with heated pools it’s fantastic — you’re able to train all year around,” he said.

Tony Goodwin has multiple records and medals to his name.

“As you get older the distance you swim becomes less important — it’s more about the effort you put in to a shorter event.

“And you have to make sure your technique is right because you can’t get away with the things you did in your 20s.

“It keeps me going — I often say that if it wasn’t for swimming I’d be dead.”

Goodwin’s affinity with the water began at age 10 before giving up the sport to pursue cricket.

He made the switch back to the pool at the age of 55 when he “couldn’t chase the cricket ball around the field anymore.”

Since then, he hasn’t looked back — competing in eight world championship events and clocking up national records in breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

Goodwin said his preparation for the FINA championships had involved 13 weeks of training, mostly in breaststroke, and six day per week sessions at his local gym.

He now sets his sights on competing at the 2021 FINA World Championship in Japan. By then he will have turned 84.

The FINA championships was attended by more than 5000 swimmers from 80 countries.